Register mechanism for calculating



1955 G. c. ELLERBECK v 2,714,992

REGISTER MECHANISM FOR CALCULATING MACHINE Filed June 29, 1954 EIE 1 EIE IE nit ates REGISTER MECHANHSM FOR CALCULATING MACHINE Application June 29, 1954, Serial No. 440,080

4 Claims. (Cl. 235144) This invention relates to register mechanism for calculating machines and more particularly to a register clearing mechanism for an accumulating register such as that used in the well-known Friden calculating machine and fully disclosed in Patent No. 2,229,889 patented January 28, 1941 by C. M. F. Friden, Patent No. 2,294,083 patented August 25, 1942 by C. M. Friden and Patent No. 2,327,635 patented August 24, 1943 by C. M. Friden.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a register clearing mechanism of simplified construction wherein a single rack bar is used to erase a value standing in the register by returning all of the register dials to their positions rather than the staggered rack bar and resetting gear arrangement shown in the above-listed patents; wherein a Zero stop mechanism is used to assist the rack bar in returning the register dials to their 0 positions as well as to stop the dials when they reach their 0 positions; which eliminates the necessity of staggering the dial clearing or resetting gears longitudinally of the dial shafts; which facilitates the construction and assembly of calculating machine registers of the character indicated and materially reduces the manufacturing cost of such registers; which improves the operation of the machine by requiring a reduced amount of rack bar travel for automatic register clearing actions; and which can be installed in an existing register carriage with no material modification of the carriage construction.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a register carriage with a portion broken away and shown in cross section to show the application of register clearing means illustrative of the invention thereto;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the register and register carriage with a portion of the carriage broken away and shown in cross-section; and

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but with the movable parts in a different operative position from the position shown in Fig. 2.

With continued reference to the drawing, the numeral generally indicates a register supporting carriage frame of elongated, generally rectangular shape comprising rear and front channel members 11 and 12 secured together with their open sides mutually opposed to provide a hollow frame of rectangular cross-sectional shape. This carriage frame, in the arrangement shown in the above-noted patents, is longitudinally movable relative to the frame of the associated calculating machine and may be moved manually or automatically incident to calculating operations of the machine, but may be fixed relative to the machine without in any way affecting the scope of the in vention. A plurality of dial assemblies, as generally indicated at 14, are supported in ordinal arrangement by the frame 10 and each-such dial assembly comprises a dial shaft 15 extending perpendicularly through the top and bottom walls of the frame and journalled near its opposite ends in the frame medially of the width of the frame, a mutilated resetting gear 16 mounted on each shaft 15 at the under surface of the top wall 17 of the frame 10, a numbered dial 18 mounted on the shaft somewhat above the top or outer surface of the frame top wall 17, and a zero stop cam 19 mounted on the shaft between the outer surface of the upper wall 17 of the frame and the lower end of the dial 18. A detented Geneva gear 20 is mounted on each shaft 15 adjacent the upper surface of the bottom wall 21 of the frame for accurately centering the corresponding dial assembly in each number or digit position thereof and a suitable gear, not illustrated, is mounted on the lower end of each shaft 15 for engagement by the calculating machine actuating mechanism to rotate the dial assembly in response to the selection of entry values, in a manner well known to the art.

A clearing rack bar 23 is slidably mounted in an internal groove 24 provided in the rear channel member 11 of the carriage immediately below the carriage top wall 1'"! and this rack bar extends along the groove 24 past all of the resetting gears 16 of the register. The rack bar 23 is a unitary member and has on its side adjacent the resetting gears 16, spaced-apart groups of rack teeth 25 which engage the teeth of the resetting gears 16 when the rack bar is moved longitudinally to the right relative to the frame 10, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In the arrangement illustrated each group of rack teeth contains six teeth and each resetting gear is a mutilated gear provided with six teeth extending around approximately one half the circumference thereof. With such an arrangement, movement of the rack bar to the right to its full extent of movement relative to the frame 10 is effective to rotate the resetting gears and dial shafts through six unit spaces. Thus, if a dial were set at the numeral 6 or any number below 6 it would be turned back to its 0 position by movement of the clearing rack 23 alone, but, if the dial were set at a number above 6," for example the number 9, the clearing rack would return the dial assembly through only six unit spaces leaving the dial at its 3 position rather than at its 0 position. When a resetting gear has been turned to the full extent to which it can be turned by movement of the clearing rack bar, the portion of the gear without gear teeth comes opposite the rack teeth so that no further movement can be imparted to the gear. Thus, if a dial were at its 3 setting and the clearing rack were moved to the right, the clearing rack would turn the dial assembly back through three spaces and the remaining three rack teeth of the corresponding group would then pass by the resetting gear without imparting any further movement thereto.

A fiat, zero stop bar 26 extends along the rear portion of the top surface of the frame 10 past all of the dial assemblies and this rack bar is provided with teeth or abutment formations 27 spaced apart therealong and projecting toward the zero stop cams 19 on the dial shafts i3. This zero stop bar is mounted on the carriage frame for longitudinal movement by suitable means, such as screws 28 extending through corresponding elongated slots 29 in the fiat zero stop bar and threaded into the frame 10, and the bar 26 is resiliently urged to its limiting left-hand position by suitable means, such as the tension spring 30 connected at one end to a stud 31 fixed to the frame 10 and at its other end to a stud 32 carried by the bar 26 to the right of the stud 31. When in its limiting left-hand position, the abutment formations 27 on the zero stop bar 26 are all to the left of and clear of the corresponding zero stop cams 19 so that the dial assemblies can be turned freely without interference by the zero stop bar.

Each zero stop cam 19 has a chordwise disposed straight edge 34 which is parallel to the longitudinal center line of the stop bar 26 when the corresponding assembly is in its 0 position and each of the abutment formations 27 on the stop bar has a straight outer edge which is also parallel to the longitudinal center line of the stop bar. The straight edges of the zero stop cams and the abutment formations 27 are so related that when the bar 26 is shifted to the right from its left-hand, home position, the straight outer edge of each abutment forma tion 27 bears against the straight edge 34 of the corresponding zero stop cam 19 and positively stops the associated dial assembly in its 0 position and holds the dial assembly in 0 position until the stop bar 26 is returned to its home position to move the abutment formations 27 clear of the corresponding zero stop cams.

An operating knob 35 is mounted at its lower end on the right-hand end of the clearing rack bar 23 and extends upwardly from the rack bar above the upper surface of the frame 10, this knob being used to manually shift the clearing rack to the right to manually clear the register. A bellcrank lever 37 is pivotally mounted at its angle on the frame 10 by a pivot screw 38 located near the right-hand end of the frame and forwardly of the mid-location of the frame and this lever has an arm 40 extending rearwardly from the pin 38 and provided in its rear end with a notch 41 which receives a stud 42 projecting upwardly from the zero stop bar 26 and has a second arm 39 extending to the right from the screw 38 and provided with a cam edge 4-3 which is engaged by the stem 44 of the knob 35 when the clearing rack bar 23 is initially moved to the right relative to the frame 10 to clear the register. The cam edge 43 of the bellcrank lever 37 is so shaped, that upon initial movement of the clearing rack 23 to the right relative to the frame 10, the Zero stop bar 26 will be shifted to the right an amount sufficient to bring the abutment formations 2'7 in position to engage the straight edges 34 of the corresponding zero stop cams 19 and positively stop the dial assemblies as they reach their 0 positions.

A hook 45 is mounted on the right-hand end of the zero stop bar 26 and extends around the right-hand side of the knob stem 44 and, when the clearing rack 23 and the zero stop bar 26 are both in their left-hand, home positions, as illustrated in Fig. 3, this hook is spaced to the right from the stem of the knob 35 a distance such that the knob will not engage the hook until the clearing rack has been moved to the right a distance sufficient to rotate a dial assembly set at the number 6 or a higher number through six unit spaced towards its 0 position.

When the clearing rack has been moved to the right to J this extent, the knob stem picks up the hook 45 and moves the zero stop bar 26 to the right a distance beyond that to which the zero stop bar was moved by the bellcrank lever 37. When this occurs, the zero stop cam 19 on any dial assembly which has not been returned to J;-

its 0 position will have its straight edge inclined relative to the straight outer edge of the corresponding abutment formation 27 on the zero stop bar 26 and, as the stop bars move to the right, the abutment formation 27 will act on the associated zero stop cam to bring he straight edge of the stop cam into alignment with the straight outer edge of the abutment formation thereby rotating the corresponding dial assembly through the additional unit spaces necessary to return the dial assembly to its 0" position and will then positively stop the dial assembly in its 0 position. The zero stop bar thus assists the clearing rack bar 23 in zeroizing the dial assemblies wrich have been turned to 6 or a higher number.

It will be noted from an inspection of Fig. 1 that the resetting gears 16 are all in substantially the same plane extending longitudinally of the carriage frame 10 and are not staggered up and down on the dial assembly shafts 15, as is the practice in registers of this character now in use, and that the clearing rack bar 23 is a solid, unitary member rather than a two-part member, as is the present practice. This arrangement provides for a greatly simplified and more economical construction and for a shortened movement of the clearing rack bar so that the register can be automatically zeroized with a much shorter movement of the rack bar relative to the associated machine frame than is possible with the presently used construction and also, because of the bearing of the straight outer edges of the abutment formations 27 on the straight edges of the corresponding zero stop cams 34 when the zero stop bar 26 is in locking position, the dial assemblies will be positively moved to their 0 position regardless of the operating speed of the clearing rack and the zero stop bar and will also be positively held in 0 position since it is not possible for the Zero stop cams 19 to move by rebound or otherwise once the straight outer edges of the abutment formations 27 have been moved onto the straigth edges of the corresponding zero stop earns 19.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are, therefore, intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

1. In a calculating machine register, a carriage frame, ordinally arranged dial assemblies rotatably mounted in said frame in parallel relationship to each other and each including a shaft, a numbered dial mounted on one end of said shaft, :1 zero stop cam mounted on said shaft in spaced relationship to said dial and a resetting gear mounted on said shaft in spaced relationship to said dial and said cam, a clearing rack slidably mounted in said frame (01' longitudinal movement and extending past said resetting gears and having spaced-apart groups of rack teeth engageable with said resetting gears to at least partialiy return said dial assemblies from actuated positions to 0 positions when said rack is moved longitudinally relative to said frame, a zero stop mounted on said frame for longitudinal movement and extending past said zero stop cams and having projections spaced apart therealong and engageable with said cams to posi tively stop the corresponding dial assemblies in their 0 positions, said projections being effective to engage the zero stop cams of any dial assemblies which have not been turned to 0" position. by movement of said clearing rack and complete the turning of such dial assemblies to their 0 positions, and means imparting longitudinal movement to said zero stop bar when said clearing rack is moved longitudinaliy.

2. in a calculating machine register including a frame and ordinally arranged dial assemblies rotatably mounted in said frame and each including a shaft and a resetting and a zero stop cam mounted on said shaft, register clearing means comprising a clearing rack mounted in said frame for longitudinal movement and extending past the resetting gears, ordinally spaced groups of rack teeth on said clearing rack engageable with teeth of the associated resetting gears to turn the corresponding dial assemblies from actuated positions toward their 0 positions when said clearing rack is moved longitudinally relative to said frame, a zero stop bar mounted on said frame for longitudinal movement and extending past said zero stop cams, projections ordinally spaced along said zero stop bar and normally clear of said Zero stop cams but cngageablc therewith when said zero stop bar is moved longitudinally relative to said frame to stop the corresponding dial assemblies in their 0 positions, said clearing rack being ineffective to return said dial assemblies from their positions of maximum departure from their 0 positions back to their 0" positions, a first motion transmitting connection between said clearing rack and said zero stop bar effective when said clearing rack is initially moved longitudinally to move said zero stop bar to bring said projections to cam-engaging position, and a second motion transmitting connection between said clearing rack and said zero stop bar effective after said clearing rack has operated to its full effectiveness to return the dial assemblies to 0 positions to move said zero stop bar a further amount to return to their 0 positions any dial assemblies not fully returned to their 0 positions by said clearing rack.

3. In a calculating machine register including a frame and ordinally arranged dial assemblies rotatably mounted in said frame and each including a shaft, and a resetting gear and a zero stop cam mounted on said shaft, a clearing rack mounted in said frame for longitudinal movement and extending past the resetting gears to turn the corresponding dial assemblies from actuated positions toward their 0 positions when said clearing rack is moved longitudinally relative to said frame, a zero stop bar mounted on said frame for longitudinal movement, projections ordinally spaced along said zero stop bar and engageable With said zero stop cams when said zero stop bar is moved longitudinally relative to said frame to stop the corresponding dial assemblies in their 0 positions, said clearing rack being ineffective to return said dial assemblies from their positions of maximum departure from their 0 positions back to their 0 positions, and motion transmitting means connected between said clearing rack and said zero stop bar effective when said clearing rack is initially moved longitudinally to move said zero stop bar to bring said projections to cam-engaging position, and subsequently to move said zero stop bar a further amount to return to their 0 positions any dial assemblies not fully returned to their 0 positions by said clearing rack.

4. In a calculating machine register including a frame and ordinally arranged dial assemblies rotatably mounted in said frame and each including a shaft, and a resetting gear and a zero stop cam mounted on said shaft, register clearing means comprising a clearing rack mounted in said frame for longitudinal movement and extending past the resetting gears, spaced-apart groups of rack teeth on said clearing rack engageable with teeth of associated resetting gears to turn the corresponding dial assemblies from actuated positions toward their 0 positions when said clearing rack is moved longitudinally relative to said frame, a zero stop bar mounted on said frame for longitudinal movement and extending past said zero stop cams, projections ordinally spaced along said zero stop bar and normally clear of said zero stop cams but engageable therewith when said zero stop bar is moved longitudinally relative to said frame to stop the corresponding dial assemblies in their 0 positions, said clearing rack having in each group of rack teeth a number of teeth less than the digit positions of said dial assemblies whereby said clearing rack is ineffective to return said dial assemblies from their positions of maximum departure from their 0 positions back to their 0 positions, a first motion transmitting connection between said clearing rack and said Zero stop bar effective when said clearing rack is moved longitudinally to move said zero stop bar to bring said projections to cam-engaging position, and a second motion transmitting connection between said clearing rack and said zero stop bar effective after said clearing rack has operated to its full effectiveness to return the dial assemblies to 0 position to move said zero stop bar a further amount to return to their 0 positions any dial assemblies not fully returned to their 0 positions by said clearing rack, said zero stop cams each having a chordwise straight edge and each of said zero stop bar projections having a straight outer edge cooperating with the straight edge of an associated zero stop cam to posi tion and hold the cam with the corresponding dial assembly in its 0 position.

No references cited. 

